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In the late 1940s he told the Canadian magazine Liberty: "I'm an American on paper, but my parents were from Quebec. So, I have Canadian blood. If Canadians want to say a Canadian helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima, that's fine with me."Read it all!!
Rene Gagnon. Few people of recent generations realize his Canadian connection, nor will they in director Clint Eastwood's new heavily hyped movie Flags Of Our Fathers about the six U.S. soldiers who became instant legends after AP photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped their picture hoisting the Stars and Stripes atop Mount Suribachi on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in what was America's bloodiest battle of WWII, more than 5,000 Marines killed.
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He was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, the only child of Henri Gagnon and Irenee Marcotte, French-Canadians who'd emigrated from Saint Luce, Quebec.
Rene Gagnon is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Read more about the flag raisers...
Rene Gagnon later in life...
